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WHICH DVR CARD SHOULD I GET
A QUICK ANSWER
YOU WANT AT LEAST 15 FRAMES PER SECOND PER CAMERA AND AT LEAST 640 X 480 RESOLUTION.MAKE SURE YOU DIVIDE THE TOTAL FRAMES PER SECOND OF THE DVR CARD RUNNING AT A 640 X 480 RESOLUTION BY THE AMOUNT OF CAMERAS YOU HAVE. THE TOTAL FPS OF SOME CARDS ARE RATED AT 320 X 240 WHILE SOME ARE RATED AT 640 X 480 MAKE SURE YOU FIND OUT WHICH ONE.THIS IS ONE WAY DVR COMPANIES TRY TO DECEIVE THEIR BUYERS BY OVER-RATING THEIR CARDS IF A CARD SAYS 120 FPS IT MOST LIKELY 120 FPS AT 320 X 240 AND ONLY 60 FPS AT 640 X 480 .320 X 240 RESOLUTION IS NOT CLEAR ENOUGH TO CAPTURE GOOD DETAILED EVIDENCE.
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED
WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST DVR CARD FROM SAMS CLUB ABOUT 7 YEARS AGO FOR ABOUT $450 FOR A 4 CAM 30 FPS EZ WATCH PCI CARD TO REPLACE ARE SECURITY VCR’S THAT KEPT BREAKING ON US . EZ WATCH IS ONE OF THE FEW AMERICAN BASED DVR COMPANIES AND CLAIMS TO MANUFACTOR ALL OF THEIR CARDS. WE DON’T DEAL WITH EASY WATCH ANY MORE AFTER THEY REFUSED TO TAKE BACK A $1000.00 VERSION 2.O CARD WITH A MAJOR DESIGN FLAW BECAUSE WE MISSED THE DEAD LINE BY TWO WEEKS. WE DON’T OPERATE OUR BUSINESS THAT WAY OR DO BUSINESS WITH SOMEONE WHO DOES
ONE CONFUSING DVR MARKET
WE THEN STARTED BUYING AND TESTING ALL DIFFERENT TYPES OF DVR CARDS TRYING TO FIND THE ONE WE WANTED TO SELL FOR OUR BUSINESS. WE NOTICED QUIT A FEW SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE CARDS AND THE SOFTWARE. IT SEEMED TO US THAT QUITE A FEW COMPANIES WERE STEALING OTHER PEOPLES DVR CARD DESIGN AND THEN STEALING THEIR SOFTWARE AND THEN SELLING THEM AT EXTREMELY LOW PRICES. THIS IS A PRACTICE I’VE SEEN BEFORE WITH US COMPANIES OUT SOURCING THEIR MANUFACTURING TO CHINA ONLY TO HAVE THEIR PRODUCT DESIGN COPIED AND STOLEN . COMPANIES LIKE GEOVISION, KODIKOM, AVERS AND PELCO ALL HAVE COMPANIES MAKING COPIES OF THEIR CARDS USING FORGED COPIES OF THEIR SOFTWARE. I’M JUST NOT SURE WHICH OF THOSE COMPANIES I MENTIONED STOLE DESIGNS FROM EACH OTHER.
WHO STOLE WHAT FROM WHO?
THERE ARE VERY FEW TYPES OF DVR VIDEO DECODER CHIPS SO DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE ARE PROBABLY VERY SIMILAR. SOME OF THE COPIES OF THE CARDS ARE EVEN BETTER THAN THE ONES THEY STOLE FROM AS GEOVISION FOUND OUT.ONE OF THE WAYS TO TELL A REAL GEOVISION CARD FROM A FAKE IS IF THIS ONE PART ON THE CARD IS DIFFERENT . I CHECKED AND THAT ONE PART IS A BETTER PART THAN WHAT IS ON THE GEOVISION CARD . ITS FUNNY TO HEAR PECO SAYING THAT IF YOU USE THESE COPIED CARDS THAT IT WILL DAMAGE YOUR COMPUTER BECAUSE THATS NOT TRUE. ITS JUST TO SCARE YOU INTO NOT USING THE COPY. WHAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO THINK ABOUT IS USING A STOLEN DESIGN AND A COUNTERFEIT CARD TO CATCH SOMEONE WHO’S STEALING FROM YOU SEEMS FUNNY AND WRONG .AND MIGHT SEEM FUNNY TO THE LAWYER WHO’S DEFENDING THE PERSON WHO STOLE FROM YOU WHEN HE USES THIS AGAINST YOU IN COURT BUT HONESTLY WOULD NEVER FIND OUT.
THE GEOVISION DONGLE FIASCO
IT SEEMS THAT GEOVISION IS THE MOST COPIED CARD AND SOFTWARE AND SEEMS TO BE ALSO WRITING THEIR OWN SOFTWARE AND THE MOST ACTIVE IN TRYING TO STOP PEOPLE FROM STEALING THEIR PRODUCT. THEY EVEN WENT AS FAR TO MAKE A CARD THAT HAD A SPECIAL DONGLE YOU HAD TO PLUG IN TO A USB PORT TO MAKE THE SYSTEM WORK . PROBLEM WAS THEY NEVER TOLD ANYBODY WHAT THE DONGLE DID AND WHAT THE SOFTWARE YOU INSTALLED ON YOUR COMPUTER DID . WHEN YOU INSTALLED THE SOFTWARE YOU INSTALLED SOME KIND OF EVIL VIRUS. YOU HAVE TO USE THE DONGLE TO MAKE YOUR COMPUTER WORK. WHEN YOU REMOVED THE GEOVISION SOFTWARE WITHOUT HAVING A DONGLE THE EVIL VIRUS THING STAYED . MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO LOAD ANY OTHER DVR CARD OR USE THE COMPUTER AND IT WAS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE THIS VIRUS. HERES THE FUNNY PART. THE SAME PEOPLE STOLE THE GEOVISION DESIGN FOR THIS CARD AS WELL AND WAS SELLING THE CARDS ALSO . THE PROBLEM WAS THAT THERE WAS ONLY SO MANY DONGLES AND THE PEOPLE WITH FAKE CARDS BOUGHT THEM ALL. GEOVISION WAS EXPECTING MORE TO BE SHIPPED SO THEY CONTINUED TO SELL THE DVR CARDS WITHOUT THE DONGLES THINKING THEY COULD SHIP THE DONGLES THE NEXT DAY. PEOPLE INSTALLED THE SOFTWARE NOT KNOWING YOU NEEEDED THE DONGLE TO OPERATE OR REMOVE THE SOFTWARE THAT WAS INSTALLED. I WAS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. THE DONGLES NEVER CAME THEY WERE BACK ORDERED FOR MONTHS. THE ONLY PLACE YOU COULD GET THEM WAS FROM THE PEOPLE SELLING THE FAKE GEOVISION CARDS. WHICH I HEARD FROM SEVERAL PEOPLE ON FORUMS CAME FROM THE SAME FACTORY AS THE GEOVISION CARDS. THIS 800 DOLLAR GEOVISION TOOK TWO VERY FRUSTRATING WEEKS FROM MY LIFE.....I DID FINALLY REMOVE THE VIRUS EVIL THINGY FROM MINE AND SEVERAL OTHER PEOPLES COMPUTERS . WITH NO HELP FROM GEOVISION AS USUAL
GEOVISION HAD TO DO SOMETHING FAST TO FIX THIS HUGE PROBLEM SO THEY RUSHED THE 7.05 CARD ONTO THE MARKET . THEY DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO DEVELOP SOME KIND OF COPY PROTECTION SO THEY RELEASED THE CARD WITH NO COPY PROTECTION ON IT. MAKING THIS CARD THE SMOOTHEST RUNNING AND MOST COPIED GEOVISION CARDS TO DATE. IF YOU SEE A CARD FOR SALE AND IT SAYS VERSION 8.1 WITH 7.05 SOFTWARE ITS A FAKE/COPY. ITS REALLY NOT A VERSION 8.1 CARD . THE 8.1 SOFTWARE THEY SELL WITH IT IS JUST 7.05 MADE TO LOOK LIKE 8.1 AND IT DOESN’T WORK. YOU GET A RUN TIME ERROR ABOUT 2 HOURS AFTER STARTING IT. BUT THE 7.05 SOFTWARE RUNS FLAWLESSLY AND IS VERY STABLE. YOU CAN’T UPGRADE THIS CARD THOUGH GEOVISION HAS FIXED THE COPY PROBLEM FOR NOW AND THEIR NEW SOFTWARE WON’T WORK ON A VERSION 7.05 CARD YOU CAN BUY THIS DVR CARD AS THE GV-800 WITH NO GEOVISION NAME IT SEEMS TO BE LEGAL TO DO SO AS LONG AS YOU DON’T USE THE GEOVISION NAME OR SELL THE SOFTWARE WITH IT. THE SOFTWARE CAN BE DOWNLOADED FOR FREE FROM SEVERAL SITES. THE CARD SELLS FOR UNDER 300 DOLLARS BUT IS IN THE VERY GREY PART OF THE MARKET.
THE NEW VIDEO CAPTURE CHIPS
THERE ARE NEW VIDEO CAPTURE CHIPS RECENTLY SHOWING UP ON THE MARKET MADE BY PHILIPS AND CONEXANT THE OLDER CONEXANT WAS A 8 BIT CHIP THE PHILIPS HAS TWO VERSIONS BOTH ARE 9 BIT AND THE NEW CONEXANT IS A 10 BIT. THERE IS ALSO NEW INEXPENSIVE UN PIRATED SOFTWARE THAT THESE CHIPS USE .WE’RE TESTING THE PHILIPS NOW AND TRANSLATING THE BROKEN ENGLISH INSTRUCTIONS THAT WE ARE DECIPHERING INTO NORMAL ENGLISH
DVR SPECIFICATION DECEPTION
READ THE SPECS CLOSELY ON DVR CARDS IF IT SAYS 120 FPS CHECK TO MAKE SURE ITS AT 640 X 480 AT THAT SPEED. ANYTHING LESS THAN 640 X 480 IS NOT ENOUGH RESOLUTION 320 X 240 IS NOT VERY CLEAR AT ALL ON A 8 X 10 PAPER. RARELY DO DVR CARDS RUN AT HIGH RESOLUTION AND MAXIMUM FPS AT THE SAME TIME . THEY RARELY TELL YOU THE FPS AT GIVEN RESOLUTION. THEY LIST THE TWO SEPARATELY ONLY GIVING ONE PARAMETER KEEPING THE OTHER FACTOR A SECRET MAKING THEIR DVR CARD SEEM FASTER THAN IT IS.EITHER. DISPLAY RESOLUTION IS NOT THE SAME AS RECORDING RESOLUTION THEY ARE TWO SEPARATE SETTINGS WITH RECORDING RESOLUTION ALWAYS HARDER TO ACHIEVE . IDEALLY YOU WANT AT LEAST 15 FPS AT 640 X 480 RESOLUTION PER CAMERA. DVR CARDS ARE NORMALLY ONLY ABOUT HALF AS FAST AS THEY SAY IN THE SPECS. RESOLUTION IS THE WEAK POINT OF DVR SYSTEMS YOUR CAMERAS CAN PRODUCE BETTER PICTURES THAN WHAT YOUR DVR CARD CAN RECORD. BUYING HIGH RESOLUTION CAMERAS WON’T HAVE MUCH EFFECT ON THE PICTURE QUALITY AND COULD BE A WASTE OF MONEY
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
THE SPECS CAN BE VERY CONFUSING . I CAN TELL YOU I’VE DONE MY RESEARCH AND THE PRICE YOU PAY DETERMINES THE QUALITY OFMY DVR CARDS. THESE ARE ALL GREAT CARDS THAT HAVE GOOD COMPONENTS AND ARE THE BEST IN THEIR PRICE RANGE IF YOU NEED HELP DECIDING CALL US UP AND WE CAN HELP WITH CLEARING UP THE CONFUSION OF THE SPECIFICATIONS. WE HAVE SPENT QUITE A BIT OF TIME MAKING THE FACTS CLEARER BUT ITS STILL PRETTY TECHNICAL AND CONFUSING. WE ARE SELLING THE NEW 9 BIT PHILIPS CHIP CARDS AND THE NEW 1O BIT CONAXANT CHIP CARDS THESE CHIPS ARE SUPPOSE TO PRODUCE BETTER PICTURES THAN THE OLD 8 BIT CONAXANT CHIPS THAT COMPANIES LIKE GEOVISION USE. WE HAVE BEEN TESTING THE 9 BIT PHILIPS IN OUR BUSINESS AND IT SEEMS TO WORK GREAT HOWEVER THE CHIP IS ONLY HALF THE EQUATION THOUGH. THE SOFTWARE GEOVISION USES MAKES THEIR DVR CARDS FEATUES BETTER THAN THE 9 BIT CARD WE ARE TESTING. NOT TO MENTION THE BROKEN ENGLISH THAT WE NEEDED TO TRANSLATE ON THE 9 BIT PHILIPS. STAY TUNED THIS IS ONE FAST MOVING MARKET AND THINGS CHANGE ALMOST DAILY,
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